DALLAS \u2013 A determined offensive push by the Minnesota Wild came too late, in this case.<\/p>\n
Trailing the Stars by a trio of goals, Minnesota threw everything at its disposal toward the Dallas net in the final period, but despite the work of its NHL-best power play, came up just short.<\/p>\n
Third period man-advantage goals by Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy made it a nail-biter, but the Stars were able to hold on for a 5-2 win Tuesday night in north Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the first, probably 10 minutes of the first period, we had lots of chances, didn\u2019t capitalize on it,\u201d Wild coach John Hynes said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really like our second as much. I really liked our third period. You know, the style of game, how we played, we had lots of scoring chances, lots of shots, lots shot attempts. It didn\u2019t go in easy for us tonight. But it wasn\u2019t for a lack of pressure or opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger carried much of the load, stopping 38 shots as the Wild fell to 2-2-0 for the season, starting a long road trip on a down note. For Minnesota, goalie Filip Gustavsson had 20 saves in the loss.<\/p>\n
Trailing 3-0 in the third, Minnesota pulled back within a goal, and outshot Dallas 16-4 in the final 20 minutes, only to see Radek Faksa and Roope Hintz score empty-net goals to squelch the drama.<\/p>\n
While the power play for Minnesota has been a bright spot, the Wild have now gone three games without a 5-on-5 goal.<\/p>\n
In the early going, the Wild looked nothing like a team that had played the night before and had gotten into their Texas hotel beds at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. They pelted Oettinger with eight shots in the opening three minutes of the game, but the momentum was short-lived.<\/p>\n
Dallas struck first just over five minutes into the game when an errant Vladimir Tarasenko pass was intercepted by Hintz, who fed defenseman Esa Lindell for a low shot through traffic that eluded Gustavsson.<\/p>\n
When Minnesota took the first penalty of the game late in the first, Dallas needed 31 seconds of man advantage to double its lead. After Wild defenseman Jake Middleton lost his stick while guarding the front of the net, Stars forward Wyatt Johnston was able to walk around him and pop a shot into the top right corner of the net.<\/p>\n
Despite being outshot 14-11 by its guests, Dallas took its two-goal lead into the first break.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack to backs are tough. You know, it\u2019s no excuse,\u201d said Boldy, who had a career-high 10 shots on goal in the game. \u201cI thought we came out really well, first 10 minutes and then they kind of stepped on the gas a little and we had spots in our game that weren\u2019t the best. But you know, it\u2019s hard to get your legs, momentum, but I\u2019m just kind of proud of the way we played in the third and to give us a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early in the middle frame, Minnesota killed all but seven seconds of the Stars\u2019 second power play, but ended up in the three-goal hole thanks to an unfortunate bounce. With Zach Bogosian manning the top of the crease, Dallas forward Matt Duchene was able to bank a puck off the Wild defenseman\u2019s skate and between Gustavsson\u2019s knees.<\/p>\n
Minnesota\u2019s power play, which entered the game leading the NHL in efficiency, got its first opportunity of the night in the second period, and crowded Oettinger\u2019s crease. But they came away empty after the goalie smothered a Kaprizov wrist shot from 12 feet out.<\/p>\n
The Wild began the third period with 51 seconds of man advantage and spent all of that time in the offensive zone, with nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.<\/p>\n
The handful of Minnesota fans at American Airlines Center finally had a reason to cheer when Middleton leveled Duchene with an open-ice hit in the neutral zone, then got in a scrap that ended with the Wild on a power play. They spoiled Oettinger\u2019s attempt at a clean sheet when Zeev Buium\u2019s shot from the blue line sailed through a crowd and was deflected by Boldy on the way to the back of the net.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started off really hot. We got away from it the last 10 minutes of the first period. They capitalized on some, \u00a0they were bounces really,\u201d Middleton said. \u201cWe had a hand pass on the first (Dallas) goal. Well, it was a hand pass, inadvertent or not. Second one we got no stick. Third one off the skate, and we still found a way to come out and give ourselves a chance in the third.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boldy, who has scored in every Wild game, became the first player in franchise history to open a season with a four-game goal streak. The nine consecutive power play goals scored by the Wild, dating back to their home opener loss to Columbus last weekend, is also the longest streak in franchise history.<\/p>\n
Tuesday night\u2019s game marked the Stars\u2019 32nd home opener since they moved to Texas in 1993. The franchise spent its first 26 seasons in the Twin Cities, playing home games in Bloomington as the Minnesota North Stars.<\/p>\n
The Wild, who are in the midst of a five-game road trip \u2013 their second-longest of the season \u2013 have two days off before a 6 p.m. game on Friday versus the Capitals in Washington.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 14, 2025 at 11:31 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2013 A determined offensive push by the Minnesota Wild came too late, in this case. Trailing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,2960,2484,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-4344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news","11":"tag-minnesota-wild","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}